Sister Paula Patrice Michaud, CSJ
November 26, 1925 - March 16, 2023
Kind, concern for the poor, sense of humor
Esther Jane, the fourth child of Jay and Aurelie (Orleans) Michaud, was born on the family farm near Loveland, Colorado, on November 26, 1925. Eventually, her family moved to Denver. She attended St. Louis School in Englewood, staffed by the Sisters of St. Joseph, until during eighth grade when her family moved to New Mexico. Three years later, they returned to Denver where she finished high school at St. Francis de Sales, also taught by CSJs. Deciding to become a sister, she entered the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1943 and received the habit and the name Sister Paula Patrice in 1944. She earned a bachelor's degree at Fontbonne College in French/education (1956), and at the University of Colorado, she earned a master’s in elementary education administration (1972).
Sister Paula began her ministry teaching primary and intermediate students at St. Matthew
the Apostle, St. Louis (1946) and then taught intermediate at Holy Cross Grade School, Champaign, Illinois (1953). She volunteered to be a missionary to Japan, but the community asked if she would be willing to go to Hawaii. In 1956, she arrived in Hawaii and taught primary students at St. Anthony, Kailua, Oahu. That was followed by junior high at Christ the King, Maui (1959); principal and teacher at Holy Rosary, Paia, Maui (1961); then, she taught intermediate students after returning to St. Anthony on Oahu (1962).
Next, S. Paula Patrice taught intermediate students in Denver at St. Catherine of Siena
(1966). Then, she was principal and teacher at St. Patrick, Denver (1968), and returned to St. Catherine of Siena as principal (1972). In 1982, S. Paula moved to the Diocese of Tucson, Arizona, where her brother, diagnosed with ALS, lived. She ministered as principal at Our Mother of Sorrow School. In 1986, she took time for a sabbatical at La Paz De Jose Community, Tucson. In 1987, she began a new aspect of ministry as a clerk-medical staff person in the Administration Office at St. Joseph Hospital in Tucson, followed by clerking as a medical librarian in 1996. S. Paula shared:
I really considered what my ministry was ... when I was out of the office away from the desk ... in the halls or in the basement ...
very conscious of wanting to reach out to the people I met in the halls, whether it was the patients coming in or just anyone ... the people downstairs working in the housekeeping part and the maintenance men, making sure that they knew that we cared about them.
Retiring in 2006, she moved to St. Louis to become part of the St. Joseph Novitiate Community. In 2008, she joined the Holy Trinity Community at Carondelet. She moved to Nazareth Living Center in 2022.
Sister Pat Quin shares:
Paula had a great sense of humor, saying clever things that became known as ‘Paula-isms.' ... I recall … a recent afternoon when she had forgotten to put her watch on after a nap (which she generally called “pressing her sheets”). I suggested she felt “naked” without her watch. She immediately replied, ‘No. Timeless!’
By Sister Helen Oates